Google reveals top holiday toy searches

Canadians are searching for classic brands like LEGO, Pokémon and Barbie ahead of the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales extravaganza.

With shoppers around the world diving into Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales, Google has released data on Canadian consumers’ holiday habits.

According to Google, the toy brands topping Canadians’ online searches include classics like LEGO (pictured), Pokémon, Barbie and Hot Wheels. A newer entrant is Fortnite, which crossed the US$1-billion revenue mark in July and contributed to a 40% increase in consumer spending on video gaming in the US for the first half of 2018.

Google’s data also found Canadians completed just 23% of their holiday shopping as of last week, with 13% of consumers planning to consolidate their shopping during the Black Friday and Cyber Monday period. In fact, Google found that mobile searches for “Black Friday” and “Deals” have grown more than 100% in the past two years. This past week, Google searches for “Black Friday” were up 252%.

With demand during the holiday weekend so high, nearly half of customers reported they wanted retailers to improve their online inventory information (an increase over 2017). About half of customers said they visit multiple websites before making a decision, and 51% are open to purchasing from new retailers.

Retailers like Amazon and Target have released their top holiday toy lists in anticipation of the shopping season, while Walmart expanded its inventory of kids playthings by 30% in store and 40% online.